M5.4 earthquake 281 km W of Haveluloto, Tonga
A magnitude 5.4 earthquake struck 281 km W of Haveluloto, Tonga on Wed, Jul 19, 2006, 6:59 PM GMT+13 (05:59 UTC), 362 km (225 mi) below the surface.
Map
Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.4 (Mwc, centroid moment), moderate
- Magnitude from
- USGS National Earthquake Information Center
- Local time
- UTC
- 2006-07-19 05:59:24 UTC
- Depth
- 361.6 km (224.7 mi), deep
- Epicenter
- 21.604° S, 177.883° W
- Region
- Tonga
- Tsunami flag
- No
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
Magnitude estimates
Different scales measure different things and differ by a few tenths. The USGS marks one as preferred, and it is the one this page uses.
| Mag. | Scale | Computed by | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.4 | Mwc, centroid moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed |
| 5.42 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
| 5.4 | Mwc, centroid moment | Global CMT project | Preliminary |
What happened
The USGS’s account of the effects of this earthquake.
no people dead or missing; no people injured; no buildings damaged or destroyed
From the USGS event page for usp000ep2j. U.S. Geological Survey text and figures are in the public domain.
Did you feel it?
No one has reported feeling this quake to the USGS.
Fault motion and ground failure
How the rock slipped, from the moment tensor, and the USGS estimate of landslides and liquefaction.
- Faulting
- Oblique normal
- Nodal plane 1
- Strike 239°, dip 13°, rake -57°
- Nodal plane 2
- Strike 26°, dip 79°, rake -97°
How well it is located
Reviewed by a seismologist.
- Depth from
- CONSTRAINED_BY_DEPTH_PHASES
- Station coverage gap
- 42°
- Stations used
- 230
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 2.4 and up: 6 in the 60 days after this one and 2 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 4.4Fiji region · 7357 days ago · 619 km deep · 73 km away
- 3.6Fiji region · 7349 days ago · 400 km deep · 33 km away
- 4.6217 km W of Haveluloto, Tonga · 7345 days ago · 119 km deep · 66 km away
- 4.4Fiji region · 7338 days ago · 536 km deep · 80 km away
- 3.8Fiji region · 7329 days ago · 367 km deep · 75 km away
- 3.9235 km W of Haveluloto, Tonga · 7321 days ago · 464 km deep · 70 km away
Before
Earthquakes todayTonga earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp000ep2j (also filed as gcmtb200607190559a, gcmt20060719055924, iscgem10699480). Read Sat, Oct 3, 2026, 11:53 AM UTC.